Lithuania
Breweries on the map
Bravoras "Apynys" / Green Monster
In Karmėlava, on the outskirts of Kaunas, the Apynys bravoras — "the hop" — hides behind its traditional name a far more exuberant creature: Green Monster, its craft brand with monstrous labels. Mango milkshake pale ales, tangy sours with guava or soursop, IPAs saturated with tropical fruit: the green monster loves avalanches of aroma, often in collaboration with Lithuanian and Polish accomplices like Rockmill or the Hop-Doc gastropub. Its colourful cans brighten the fridges of Kaunas and Vilnius bottle shops — proof that the country's second city knows how to unleash monsters too.
Genys Brewing Co.
Genys — "the woodpecker" — drums out the tempo of independent Lithuanian craft from Kaunas. Its juicy IPAs like Žirgo Galva, its milkshake ales and fruited sours rank among the country's most sought-after beers, poured in its two taprooms: one in the heart of Kaunas old town on Vilniaus gatvė, with twelve taps and cheese boards, the other in Vilnius, a den of the local craft scene. Regularly cited as Lithuania's coolest independent brewery, Genys embodies the generation that carried Kaunas — interwar capital and UNESCO city of modernism — into the craft beer era.
Volfas Engelman
The story of Volfas Engelman begins in 1853, when Jewish entrepreneurs Rafailas Volfas and later Ferdinand Engelman built in Kaunas one of the region's first industrial breweries. Nationalised and renamed Ragutis in the Soviet era, the house reclaimed its founders' names in 2011 and today, within Finland's Olvi group, stands as Lithuania's second-largest brewery. Its range runs from traditional lagers to modern IPAs, from kvass to cider, brewed in the heart of the interwar provisional capital. The taproom-studio beside the brewery on Kaunakiemio gatvė lets you taste the output right next to the kettles.
No brewery for this initial.